Endowment growth in 2011 came in no small part because universities have increasingly invested in private equity--the same private equity that has become a hot-button issue on the 2012 campaign trail, with some candidates and commentators calling into question its social value. Private equity is "of increasing significance" for endowments. It made up roughly 12 percent of endowment assets in the 2011 fiscal year, up from 8 percent in 2008. Private equity performed about as well as endowment returns over all, at 19 percent. College endowments are ideal candidates for private-equity investors because they are considered very long-term investors, and are more able to take on the risk of bearing illiquidity and negative returns, such as those from 2009. For 348 colleges participating in a Commonfund survey since 2007, private equity jumped from representing 19 percent of alternative-strategy investments in 2007 to 26 percent in 2011. That seven-point increase was the largest gain of any alternative-strategy investment. Although some endowment managers may hesitate to take on risk in light of the economy, alternative investments are thriving. Colleges typically invest 53 percent of their endowment funds in "alternative strategies," such as private equity, hedge funds, and venture capital. Of those alternative investments, 24 percent are in private equity. Though wealthy colleges are the biggest investors in private equity, it has also been gaining acceptance among medium- and small-size endowments in recent years. The move toward investing in private equity comes as controversy over the practice is brewing among some presidential candidates and members of the public--thanks largely to the role of Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate, as a founder of the private-equity firm Bain Capital. Mr. Romney's opponents have accused him of gutting companies, cutting jobs, and practicing "vulture capitalism," and of benefiting from unfairly low tax rates on capital gains. Officials in the endowments sector see the controversy over private equity as "an election-year thing." Private equity is often a positive thing. These funds provide an opportunity for investors to put their money in small firms and "turnaround opportunities."